No use closing myself to the possibility. It may come to that, and with Connie, Yuga and now J leading the way, I love the fact that I won’t be alone. But while problogging intrigues me, it would probably be my last option. Like Markku, I don’t see myself quitting my job any time soon to blog full time. What I really want to move into is consultancy. I’ve tried the corporate ladder route; I’ve been steadfast in that direction for the past 5 years and by most people’s standards, I’ve achieved much for myself and for the companies I’ve been associated with. It may be time that I work the same magic, this time for third parties.
Let me tell you why problogging isn’t for me, for now.
Somehow, maintaining a blog (or an army of blogs) and living off AdSense does not answer the segurista in me. You all know how temperamental and fickle AdSense revenues are, one day you’re hitting 3 digits, the next you’re ripping your hair off (not that I have a lot to rip off). AdSense cannot be a business model. The other problem is that unlike Connie and Yuga, I don’t have a lot of Web properties to derive income from. The ones that I maintain, they don’t cater to juicy caveman friendly niches. Ever tried getting SEOs to click AdSense ads?? That’s my niche. Even if I branched out and started blogging about life and the universe, the thought of earning off my diary just doesn’t sound right. Hell, I don’t even believe in blogs and AdSense.
I think the inner desire to go problogger should be tempered with the thought that there’s more to Internet marketing than just blogging. There’s affiliate marketing and pay per click (PPC), a modest earner for me this year. Imagine how much I could have earned if I dedicated 50% more time to those projects. What I would really like is to be on the other side of the fence. I would like to be the one paying bloggers to write. I would like to be the one starting projects and mobilizing people. To be successful, I’ll have to work at that whole social currency thing. Aside from brand building, I also need to be more aggressive in hunting down prospects for the local consulting outfit which I’m always tempted to start.
At the end of the day, it shouldn’t be about the money. I should be going after the thing/s that 1) I enjoy 2) will enjoy doing for a long time to come and 3) will provide for my future family.
These are the things I want to think about while soaking the Boracay sun next month.
January 16th, 2006 at 5:28 PM
boracay-guide! :)
January 16th, 2006 at 5:29 PM
anyway good points, as blogging is a one basket thing, and very competitive. The best sites are the ones you dont have to update once youve completed them. :)
January 16th, 2006 at 7:49 PM
I’ll be happy to do an ocular for you next month :) there’s real value in having a Boracay.com service out there. You just need a travel agency partner to really milk it.
Aaron talks about autoupdate sites in this blog post. Yes, something better than R2B please :)
January 17th, 2006 at 1:01 PM
This is one of my gripes with the other so-called “probloggers.” Most of their subject matter is lifted from other sources. They simply quote a news article and pass it off as their own. Or they simply add a few sentences as their opinion. And some opinions mind you are downright obvious, juvenile, myopic, with little added value.
A good blogger should be fearless in his opinions, intelligent, perceptive, and witty. And aside from simply blogging, he should have something else as a revenue-generator—be it consulting, programming, or even in broadcasting
January 22nd, 2006 at 10:50 PM
Buwayahman, the intro+blockquote+link formula seems to work for a lot of A-listers. I think these types of posts are necessary evils. Besides, once you get to those levels, all posts are golden.
But if them posts run your blog 80% of the time, then there must be something wrong.
I really like the consultancy route. Any tips?
January 23rd, 2006 at 2:33 AM
I agree with buwayahman … I’m now studying how to write code to do the deed.. Blog posts should be for analysis and building up credibility.
Consulting… well I used to be a fan, but after a while it became clear that when selling consulting your earning potential is limited by the time you can spend doing the work.
So, I’m now looking on how to build a proper product, along the lines of Aaron Wall’s Scientific SEO concept.
January 23rd, 2006 at 3:03 PM
Right now blogging has now become sort of like a hobby of mine. I had always dreamed of writing articles for magazines and now I have the chance to become a writer and publisher at the same time! :)
But seriously, I am now doing sort of an “experiment” to see if this “hobby” is self-sustaining—ie see if the “revenue” from Ads is able to sustain the cost of web hosting.
January 23rd, 2006 at 5:34 PM
With your content, you’ll definitely recover the costs.
The question of “pro” blogging really is, can you make more money in the time you spend blogging, than doing other work?
January 27th, 2006 at 4:50 AM
“I should be going after the thing/s that 1) I enjoy 2) will enjoy doing for a long time to come and 3) will provide for my future family.” –> This doesn’t sound like something a cynic would say. hehe.
which made me think… maybe im doing something for a worthy cause, after all. :p
January 27th, 2006 at 12:03 PM
That’s the spirit Riz :)
February 11th, 2006 at 10:29 AM
I find it difficult to reconcile problogging with people’s tribal needs. Problogging seems like a rather lonely way to earn a living.
I kind of like looking up every few minutes or so, and see a friendly face pass by. And then there’s lunch and merienda break, plus the chance to talk with others face to face and bounce ideas off each other in real time.
To each his own, I guess.
Anyway… why not build a network of travel sites, Marc? Serve as consultant for the local tourism industry, use SEO to help them be more visible in the search engines, and oversee a group of traveler-bloggers.
Once you’ve had too much of Boracay, soak away the hours in Palawan, for example.
(I’m going to the Travel Expo in SM Megamall in a few minutes. I wonder if they’ll still be hesitant to use blogs and SEO as they were last year.)
March 6th, 2006 at 7:29 PM
c’mon mark, this site is a blog and its full of ads. is this not pro-blogging?
March 6th, 2006 at 8:01 PM
anyway, now im going to write my story. ive been at a lost where to start. but your recent posts on the issue encouraged me to finish the story. but indeed, based on your mathematics, i should say good luck to angelo and the rest out there who are getting into it. me, ill just blog for the love of it. if someday, the dollars flow my way, why not? ha ha thanks, marc, yuga, and angelo for the interviews.
March 7th, 2006 at 1:01 AM
No, it’s more like earning extra income from the blog, like I do. Problogging is usually defined as: blogging for the specific purpose of earning.
September 6th, 2006 at 3:15 AM
hi.
i actually get more than 200 visitors everyday for my site which is just a month old or not even.(i forgot alllready..)..BUT so far my adsense earnings are very low because the clickthroughs are only 2 max or not even once for a close to 300 visitors traffic…any advice on this?i think my ads are correctly placed…
September 10th, 2006 at 2:11 AM
You’ll need your own host, not blogspot. And, why would people click on ads in an entertainment blog? No action to be taken.